Golf Course Resident Teed Off By Trees

December 15, 2009|By Lisa J. Huriash Staff Writer

PLANTATION — Is it retaliation or merely landscaping? At least one resident of the Jacaranda Country Club wants to know.

In September, the City Council rejected a rezoning request by owners of the Jacaranda Country Club Golf Course to build about 200, 5-story condos and townhomes in the center of the course. Hundreds of residents had complained about congestion, traffic and losing their views.

Michael Gimbel, 60, one of the more vocal and active opponents and organizers of protest efforts, said a week after the vote, country club workers set up stakes to plant three mature trees just beyond his property line. Last month the leafy trees were lined up between the golf course and his backyard, obstructing part of his cherished view.

"This is horrendous," Gimbel said. "We used to have a wonderful view. We paid huge premiums for these lots."

He calls it "predatory planting," and describes the country club management as an "out-of-control bully."

Bill Laystrom, the attorney for the golf course, would only refer to a Nov. 7 police report. The officer gave Gimbel a warning for tresspassing onto golf property after he complained about new security cameras installed in trees and pointed toward his swimming pool. Gimbel was "argumentative," the report said.

The plantings are intended to replace landscaping lost in Hurricane Wilma four years ago, and "necessary for the course design," Laystrom said.

Gimbel responded: "There were no trees in these backyards - ever - before Wilma."

Elisabeth Small, president of a coalition fighting the golf course, said since the vote, trees have been planted in other people's backyards, too. But she said none have been as overarching as the ones Gimbel is looking at, and only one other nearby resident had had security cameras affixed to them.

"It's clearly vindictive," she said. "They have it out for [Gimbel]."

Councilman Bob Levy would like to see a truce.

"The golf course certainly can landscape its property," Levy said. "It has property rights. But I do believe there would be an effective compromise with the neighbors."